Rain, Rain, Go Away!

It seems I've talked about the weather quite a bit since I moved to Colorado in January of this year, but when one is living through one hundred year flood conditions it is hard to resist this topic! It has been raining hard, almost constantly, the past few days, in a Monsoon pattern that has stalled over the entire Front Range. Areas that are located near rivers, creeks, gulches, reservoirs, lakes, and dams have been flooding from the tremendous amount of water that has fallen on them and caused them to breach their banks.  In some areas over 12 inches of rain has fallen in a very short time!

Fortunately, my area and the areas where my children live have had much lower rain accumulations. Thankfully, my basement sump pump has been turning on quite a bit during these storms and doing its job. We also do not live in close proximity to any of the waterways I described above, so we have not had massive flood waters flow into our community.

Having experienced the "once in a hundred years" appearance of  Hurricane Sandy, last fall in New York City, I never thought I'd also see epic rain and flooding conditions here in Colorado! Both times I was very blessed not to have to deal with a house or car damage, and my heart goes out to those who did, or are suffering now. If these were truly one hundred year events, and I hope they are, I take consolation that I will not live to see them again.

It is very sad that beautiful town of Boulder- a portion of the Boulder Pearl Street Mall is seen in the photos above, and ...

... the beautiful town of Estes Park, seen above, were both severely flooded, as well as many surrounding towns, such as Jamestown and Lyons.  Sadly, four people are known to have lost their lives in the flood waters as of today.

The video above was taken from a rooftop by a resident of Estes Park in early Friday morning as the flood waters were coming into the town.  My husband and I stayed in Estes Park last week, as it is located right outside the eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park, and it breaks our heart to think of the destruction of this pretty place.  I know they will clean up, rebuild what needs to be, and come back even stronger.  Estes Park has suffered two devastating floods in the past and did just that. I will be showing many photos of our trip to the magnificent Rocky Mountain Park in future posts

I know the stormy skies that are now overhead...

...will soon turn bright blue again, and all will be well.

Thank you to all who inquired about our safety!  I truly appreciate your concern, and my thoughts and prayers are with all those who suffered a loss of life and property in this disaster.

We Remember to Never Forget - Two 9-11 Memorials in Colorado --

Last summer, on a visit to Colorado before I moved here permanently, I accompanied my daughter on a business trip to Pueblo, Colorado. While she was with her clients, I wandered around the beautiful Riverwalk in the downtown area.  You can see more about the Riverwalk on this post, and about the Center for American Values, that is located there, on this post.

Right outside the Center of American Values, which honors the United States Medal of Honor recipients, was this breathtaking memorial to 9-11.

A steel beam from the actual World Trade Center ruins was balanced on top of two tower-like figures, pointed towards the direction of New York City.

A close up of the plaque that accompanies the memorial. 

My visit to Pueblo was right after the 2012, 9-11 anniversary, and I found it very touching to see how my soon to be new home state vowed: "We Remember to Never Forget'!

Even more so, I soon found there was to be another heartbreaking connection to 9-11 in my new state of Colorado.  When I visited the 9-11 Memorial in New York City, one last time before I moved, (you can see that post here) I took the time to photograph many of the names engraved around the memorial waterfalls, both people I or my husband knew that perished that fateful day, as well as others that became well known after the event.

One name I photographed was of the pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, Jason M Dahl.  Flight 93 crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 9-11, 2001, because of the heroic efforts of the passengers on board who fought the terrorists, to prevent further probable death and destruction in Washington, DC.

When I moved to my new neighborhood in the Littleton, Colorado area in January of this year, I passed this memorial not far from where I live.  It was a memorial to Pilot Jason M Dahl, who lived in my community until that fateful day!

Here is another photo I took of the memorial, this summer, on July 4th.

(Click on the photo to enlarge it, and then again when it opens to see an even larger view).

The Jason Dahl Scholarship Fund was set up by his wife, Sandy Dahl, after 9-11, to help worthy students of aviation. Sadly, Sandy Dahl passed away in her sleep on May 25, 2012, but the scholarship fund continues. In New York City I was surrounded by memorials and reminders of the 9-11 tragedy, but I did not expect to find such a connection here, over 1,800 miles away!  It made me realize more than ever that we are all connected in some way to the events of 9-11, whether they took place in our city or not. It was an attack on our entire nation and our way of life. We will have to remain vigilant, no matter where we live, to prevent something like this from ever happening again!

I took the following video of one of the 9-11 Memorial Waterfalls during my visit to the Memorial.  The two waterfalls lie in the footprints of the World Trade Center Tower One and Tower Two, a solemn reminder of where so many perished that day.  Water flows from all four sides into the center abyss.



Would you like to turn September 11 into a day of positive good deeds, charitable service, and inspiration?  I could not think of a better way to remember those lost than to do something good to help another in their memory.  Go to the 9/11 Day Observance web page and look where you can volunteer in your community on, or around, the 9-11 date. 

May "We Remember to Never Forget"!

If you would like to read all of my prior 10 posts about 9-11 please click on this link